WW & SEW: Circus

I love that just looking at this picture really tells you where we were! For more...

Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom
Special Exposure Wednesday to to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

WW & SEW: Sam's Summer Look

The defining activity of this summer has been swimming, and on any given beach or pool day this is how you would find Samantha. I love that girl! For more...

Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom
Special Exposure Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Special Needs

WW & SEW: Feet Size

Those are the kids' shoes. This elephant foot measures 58 inches in circumference. Last weekend we went to a very special place, and this picture is a clue. Can you guess where we went? I'll be posting pictures and video of it on Friday, so check back later this week for that. In the meantime....

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For more Special Exposure Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

WW & SEW: The Head Tilt

Samantha's new "pose" for the camera includes this adorable head tilt, along with her standard "CHEESE!" This was taken on July 3rd. The bear in her lap was given to her by Russ & Sherry, CF parents in Hawaii, whom Dan met while he was there. Sherry is the Great Strides coordinator in HI and gave Dan this bear to pass on to Samantha.

This was taken today at the beach. Samantha was totally stoked about her new "kitty" goggles. If you look closely you can see the catlike skin.

For more Wordless Wednesday (WW), visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

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WW & SEW: TV Screen Love Messages

Not so wordless...

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii game) has "stages" that the characters "brawl" on, but one function I didn't know it had was a stage builder. For several weeks Timothy has been creating his own stages. A few days ago he decided to make a stage for every letter of the alphabet. On Sunday, I called to him "last stage", and he said I had to come see the one he had just finished. After completing all 26 letters of the alphabet, he decided to build a stage for me that said I love you! I was truly overwhelmed!

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WW & SEW: Great Strides 2009

Courtney at Tale of Olivia's 65 Roses has this beautiful question written above a picture of Olivia: Aren't I Worth a Cure??? Yes, Olivia, you are definitely worth a cure!!! Each of our precious children are.

For anyone possibly new to my blog, the picture above is my daughter, Samantha, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at 2 weeks of age. You can read a CF Fact Sheet here, and you can read how CF got the nickname of "65 Roses" here. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation online by clicking on the "Donate Now" button in the top right corner of my blog.

WW & SEW: Video Teleconference (2 of 4)

I am spending time this week giving thanks for a few things about this deployment. You can click here for Item #1. Item #2 has been the VTC (video-teleconference). One day about every 2-3 weeks the sailors who sign up can get a 10 minute slot with their families. It has to rotate around, of course, but in 3 1/2 months we've gotten to do it 4 times. It has been amazing! After the 1st one Samantha told people for days, "We saw Daddy on the TV!"

I have to be honest that the last one we went to was a bummer. The ship's satellite couldn't get the video feed to work. He could see us, but we couldn't see him. However, Samantha and I just had a big laugh about how Daddy was blue (the color of the not-working screen), and I look forward to a couple of more before the deployment ends.

This painting is in the staircase of the building that we go to for VTC. The first time we went, Timothy said, "There's my Daddy." Every time after that, Samantha has said, "There's my Daddy AND my Brother!"

For more Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom.
For more Special Exposure Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

WW & SEW: C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A

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and Special Exposure Wednesday, head to 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

WW & SEW: Ages

For 121 days, Samantha was 3, Timothy was 5, and I was 35. Here's a picture on the last day our ages were linked like that. As you can see they were thrilled to participate (Timothy is shivering)...

For more Wordless Wednesday, go to 5 Minutes for Mom.
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WW & SEW: The kids!

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WW & SEW: St. Patrick's Day

No matter how important green is today, Samantha's favorite color is RED!







Timothy was in a picture taking mood, so I took advantage!











For more Wordless Wednesday, go to 5 Minutes for Mom.
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WW & SEW: Pacifiers

Timothy at a recent play date: "Let's pretend to be babies..."


Timothy 4 1/2 years ago "really being a baby". (His words!)

He also said, "It looks like I'm drinking a soda! Ha ha!"

For more Wordless Wednesday, head to 5 Minutes for Moms.
For more Special Exposure Wednesday, head to 5 Minutes for Special Needs.

WW & SEW: Cute Cooks

You've heard me mention these adorable aprons my Step-mom made for the kids and me for Christmas! Well, Samantha freaked out about putting it on, and I was not picture worthy, so you get to see Timothy in his. Oh, I LOVE them!!

Check out more great pictures:

Wordless Wednesdays at 5 Minutes for Moms
Special Exposure Wednesdays at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

WW & SEW: Calgon Take me Away!

For more pictures worth a thousand words:

Wordless Wednesdays at 5 Minutes for Moms

Special Exposure Wednesdays at 5 Minutes for Special Needs

WW & SEW: Tooth #2!

One week ago today, Timothy lost his first tooth. When I picked him up from school today, the gap seemed especially big to me. I looked inside and asked if he lost another tooth. "I don't know". And then he pulled a tooth out of his pants pocket! He had told his teacher it came out at home, but we think he was getting confused with the 1st tooth a week ago. Funny. I don't think we have any others loose right now. If this gets to be a weekly occurrence, I'll have to put it in my budget!

You can see more pictures at Wordless Wednesday and Special Exposure Wednesday.

WW & SEW: Navy Life

I had set this picture aside to put in today's Wordless Wednesday...

But my mother pointed out to me that this picture actually shows Dan and Timothy expressing their love wordlessly. For those of you haven't seen it yet, you may have to click on it to really see what's going on.

You can read about Dan's ship deploying here.

And you can see more Wordless Wednesday & Special Exposure Wednesday here and here.

WW & SEW: Sibling Play

I got Larry!!!


Oh, them is fightin' words...


Larry is MINE!


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WW & SEW: Love at First Sight

For more pictures click over to Special Exposure Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday.

WW & SEW: Christmas with Special Needs

Note the percussor in Dan's hand. When it comes to therapy, Christmas morning is like every other. Presents can wait...chest PT can't.

For more Special Exposure Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Special Needs, and for more Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Moms.

Wordless Wed & Special Exposure Wed: In Motion

You can see more Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Moms, and you can see Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.